1873 Wisconsin gubernatorial election

1873 Wisconsin gubernatorial election
← 1871 November 4, 1873 1875 →
 
Nominee William Robert Taylor Cadwallader C. Washburn
Party Democratic Republican
Alliance Reform —
Popular vote 81,599 66,224
Percentage 55.19% 44.79%
County results
Taylor :      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%
Washburn :      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Governor before election

Cadwallader C. Washburn
Republican

Elected Governor

William Robert Taylor
Democratic

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The 1873 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1873. Democratic Party candidate William Robert Taylor was elected with 55% of the vote, defeating incumbent Republican governor Cadwallader C. Washburn.[1]

Taylor was the first Democrat elected Governor of Wisconsin since William A. Barstow in 1853. He was nominated as the consensus candidate of the "Reform Party,"—a coalition of Democrats, Liberal Republicans, and Grangers, on a platform of political and economy reform.

Nominations

Republican party

Cadwallader C. Washburn was the incumbent governor of Wisconsin, having been elected in the 1871 election. Prior to becoming governor, he had served ten years in the United States House of Representatives and had served as a Union Army general in the American Civil War under Ulysses S. Grant.

Democratic (Reform) party

William Robert Taylor, at the time of the 1873 election, was a Trustee for the State Hospital of the Insane. Previously, he had served as president of the state agriculture society, had been chairman of the Cottage Grove town board, and the Dane County board of supervisors, and had been a member of the Wisconsin State Senate and Assembly.

Results

1873 Wisconsin gubernatorial election[2][3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic William R. Taylor 81,599 55.19% +8.39%
Republican C. C. Washburn (incumbent) 66,224 44.79% −8.37%
Scattering 33 0.02%
Majority 15,375 10.40%
Total votes 147,856 100.00%
Democratic gain from Republican Swing +16.77%

Results by county

Taylor was the first Democrat to ever win Eau Claire County and Kenosha County. Jackson County and Pierce County voted Democratic for the first time since 1853 and Clark County and Racine County for the first time since 1855. Clark County, Jackson County, and Lafayette County would not vote Democratic again until 1932 while Pierce County would not back a Democrat again until 1960. Adams County and Monroe County failed to back the winner for the first time ever while Columbia County, Portage County, and Sauk County voted for the losing candidate for the first time since 1851.

County[2][3] William R. Taylor
Democratic 		C. C. Washburn
Republican 		Scattering
Write-in 		Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Adams 125 16.28% 642 83.59% 1 0.13% -517 -67.32% 768
Ashland 265 81.29% 61 18.71% 0 0.00% 204 62.58% 326
Barron 169 32.19% 356 67.81% 0 0.00% -187 -35.62% 525
Bayfield 12 10.53% 102 89.47% 0 0.00% -90 -78.95% 114
Brown 2,030 61.03% 1,296 38.97% 0 0.00% 734 22.07% 3,326
Buffalo 1,105 63.36% 639 36.64% 0 0.00% -466 -26.72% 1,744
Burnett 12 4.63% 247 95.37% 0 0.00% -235 -90.73% 259
Calumet 1,357 72.68% 508 27.21% 2 0.11% 849 45.47% 1,867
Chippewa 879 59.96% 587 40.04% 0 0.00% 292 19.92% 1,466
Clark 429 54.24% 362 45.76% 0 0.00% 67 8.47% 791
Columbia 1,509 42.99% 2,001 57.01% 0 0.00% -492 -14.02% 3,510
Crawford 1,112 62.02% 681 37.98% 0 0.00% 431 24.04% 1,793
Dane 4,295 53.29% 3,760 46.65% 5 0.06% 535 6.64% 8,060
Dodge 4,562 71.38% 1,828 28.60% 1 0.02% 2,734 42.78% 6,391
Door 213 28.36% 538 71.64% 0 0.00% -325 -43.28% 751
Douglas 70 78.65% 19 21.35% 0 0.00% 51 57.30% 89
Dunn 622 47.52% 687 52.48% 0 0.00% -65 -4.97% 1,309
Eau Claire 1,122 58.04% 810 41.90% 1 0.05% 312 16.14% 1,933
Fond du Lac 3,926 57.23% 2,932 42.74% 2 0.03% 994 14.49% 6,860
Grant 2,104 46.65% 2,405 53.33% 1 0.02% -301 -6.67% 4,510
Green 1,366 49.35% 1,402 50.65% 0 0.00% -36 -1.30% 2,768
Green Lake 602 40.19% 896 59.81% 0 0.00% -294 -19.63% 1,498
Iowa 1,549 53.73% 1,334 46.27% 0 0.00% 215 7.46% 2,883
Jackson 515 51.24% 489 48.66% 1 0.10% 26 2.59% 1,005
Jefferson 2,950 64.40% 1,630 35.58% 1 0.02% 1,320 28.81% 4,581
Juneau 909 45.02% 1,110 54.98% 0 0.00% -201 -9.96% 2,019
Kenosha 942 52.22% 862 47.78% 0 0.00% 80 4.43% 1,804
Kewaunee 807 81.68% 181 18.32% 0 0.00% 626 63.36% 988
La Crosse 1,458 40.44% 2,147 59.56% 0 0.00% -689 -19.11% 3,605
Lafayette 1,430 52.50% 1,294 47.50% 0 0.00% 136 4.99% 2,724
Manitowoc 2,715 76.57% 831 23.43% 0 0.00% 1,884 53.13% 3,546
Marathon 779 71.08% 317 28.92% 0 0.00% 462 42.15% 1,096
Marquette 739 68.17% 345 31.83% 0 0.00% 394 36.35% 1,084
Milwaukee 10,435 78.61% 2,837 21.37% 3 0.02% 7,598 57.24% 13,275
Monroe 1,134 47.23% 1,267 52.77% 0 0.00% -133 -5.54% 2,401
Oconto 790 52.67% 710 47.33% 0 0.00% 80 5.33% 1,500
Outagamie 2,092 66.99% 1,031 33.01% 0 0.00% 1,061 33.97% 3,123
Ozaukee 1,839 88.63% 235 11.33% 1 0.05% 1,604 77.30% 2,075
Pepin 303 41.28% 431 58.72% 0 0.00% -128 -17.44% 734
Pierce 741 51.82% 687 48.04% 2 0.14% 54 3.78% 1,430
Polk 223 29.77% 524 69.96% 2 0.27% -301 -40.19% 749
Portage 549 34.46% 1,044 65.54% 0 0.00% -495 -31.07% 1,593
Racine 2,138 53.10% 1,888 46.90% 0 0.00% 250 6.21% 4,026
Richland 1,066 48.15% 1,148 51.85% 0 0.00% -82 -3.70% 2,214
Rock 1,279 27.61% 3,347 72.24% 7 0.15% -2,068 -44.64% 4,633
Sauk 1,115 41.82% 1,550 58.14% 1 0.04% -435 -16.32% 2,666
Shawano 415 67.59% 198 32.25% 1 0.16% 217 35.34% 614
Sheboygan 2,480 63.12% 1,449 36.88% 0 0.00% 1,031 26.24% 3,929
St. Croix 1,151 52.94% 1,023 47.06% 0 0.00% 128 5.89% 2,174
Trempealeau 339 26.86% 923 73.14% 0 0.00% -584 -46.28% 1,262
Vernon 547 24.28% 1,706 75.72% 0 0.00% -1,159 -51.44% 2,253
Walworth 1,075 30.22% 2,482 69.78% 0 0.00% -1,407 -39.56% 3,557
Washington 2,334 83.45% 463 16.55% 0 0.00% 1,871 66.89% 2,797
Waukesha 2,641 55.87% 2,086 44.13% 0 0.00% 555 11.74% 4,727
Waupaca 902 36.91% 1,542 63.09% 0 0.00% -640 -26.19% 2,444
Waushara 413 24.54% 1,270 75.46% 0 0.00% -857 -50.92% 1,683
Winnebago 2,591 47.54% 2,858 52.44% 1 0.02% -267 -4.90% 5,450
Wood 328 59.21% 226 40.79% 0 0.00% 102 18.41% 554
Total 81,599 55.19% 66,224 44.79% 33 0.02% 15,375 10.40% 147,856

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

References

  1. ^ Joint Committee on Legislative Organization, Wisconsin Legislature (2015). Wisconsin Blue Book 2015–2016. Madison, Wisconsin: Wisconsin Department of Administration. pp. 699–701. ISBN 978-0-9752820-7-6.
  2. ^ a b Wisconsin Historical Society, Vote for State Officers 1873
  3. ^ a b Wisconsin Secretary of State (1874). "The Vote for State Officers, 1873". The Legislative Manual of the State of Wisconsin. Madison, Wisconsin: Atwood & Culver, Printers & Stereotypers. p. 354.